Sheriff takes illegal immigration sweeps west
by Veronica Sanchez - Aug. 13, 2008 10:18 PM
12 News

Last week, he promised he's do things differently and he did.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio vowed to stop illegal immigrants but this time he went west to the Surprise and El Mirage area. His first ever human smuggling and illegal immigration operation in the west Valley began around four o'clock Wednesday. By five o'clock Latino activists claimed deputies had rounded up at least three illegal immigrants.

Deputies at first were vague about the location of the sweeps, but activists and Surprise police officers told us the target area was along the US 60 Grand AvenueDistrict 3 section between El Mirage and Surprise. That area included Sun City which has been supportive of the sheriffs stance on illegal immigration.

The sheriff says he used thousands of dollars to conduct his sweep with private donations after the Governor Janet Napolitano took away his funding. Illegal immigrants we spoke to said they were fearful of the deputies and many opted to stay home.

For their part Latino activist used nine teams of people to document deputies' stops, making sure the civil rights of those pulled over were not violated. The sheriff says critics will not deter him from doing his job.
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